The 3 Times Eliot and the 1 Time He Didn't
by Lunawolf5
Summary: Eliot falls asleep around the team three times and than the one time where he cant sleep anymore. Don't own. Please don't comment on spelling and grammar I try. Comment and like or whatever that is! And thanks for reading!


First Time:

"Where's Eliot?" Parker asked when she walked into the meeting room. Eliot being the only one missing from their little gathering.

Sofie looked around and shrugged about it. "Don't really know. Nate? Have you seen Eliot?"

"He came in this morning but he seemed to have a mission on his mind. He went to the spare bedroom." Nate said offhandedly as he looked through the file from the client he had seen this morning. Eliot had joined him as it was a military grunt who had been injured and told that there was no way for him to get the money the government had owed him.

Eliot said it was a constant problem with younger soldiers as they would get injured and only be there for a short amount of time.

"Should I run it then?" Hardison asked. Waving the little device that helped him control the screens.

"He was their with the client he knows what's going on. Go ahead." Nate said waving him on.

"So is Eliot asleep?" Parker asked.

"I thought he only slept like 90 minutes a day." Sofie said. Eliot not being at the meeting was really throwing everyone off. Normally he took these very seriously and wasn't one to miss a meeting about a client especially if it was an army based one.

"We have all had long days. Just run it." Nate said. Hardison frowned but ran it anyway. About half way through it, Eliot appeared silently with a cup of coffee in hand.

With a shake of his head Nate made sure no one said anything to him about being late to the meeting. Eliot was a very physical part of the team and if he needed to take an hour to sleep then Nate wasn't going to stop him.

Second:

Hardison walked into the hall created by a very silent Parker just sitting in her ropes staring at the ceiling. Sofie was reading a book and winced when ever she turned a page. Nate sat at the consol flipping through things on the internet. Everyone was very quiet.

"Wh-" A hand came on Hardiosions mouth so fast he froze. Parker was staring at him with wide eyes and a figure to her lips. Confused he followed her eye line to the couch that was set up.

Eliot laid their his arms crossed over his chest. His feet crossed on the arm rest, and his bandana, a black one today, covering his eyes.

Hardison nodded and went about helping Nate with his work on the consel. It was the second time Eliot had fallen asleep around them and it had become an unspoken rule that if Elliot was sleeping you let him sleep. And it was only when they had a particularly hard job.

Most of the times it was lack of sleep or mental weariness that made them tired but Eliot did do a lot of physical work. It wasn't a surprise that sometimes he even needed to just sleep for a while and they were respectful of the fact that Eliot did a lot that they couldn't do.

Three.

"All I am saying is that we need to focus on other things first." Hardison said shrugging.

"And I get that. But base jumping from the grand canyon!? Once in a lifetime opportunity." Parker said jumping up and down. She was excited. And Hardison got that. But he was not and she wasnt getting that.

Sophie and Nate walked up. Sofie sitting next to Parker and Nate going behind the counter to pour them all drinks. Tea for Sofie. Hot chocolate for Parker. Orange soda for Harrison. And black coffee for Eliot...who was not their.

"Where's Eliot?" Nate asked looking around as he poured his own coffee. With Irish cream.

"Upstairs I think. We had a tough job these past few days. I know that he was running around a lot. Maybe he's sleeping it off." Hardison said. With a silent nod they agreed not to bother the hitter.

The bar has just opened for lunch and their where a few people milling about, Hardison was thankful he had the walls between the bar/restaurant and the back room sound proofed when he set this place up.

They didn't know what happened when someone woke Eliot up and they really were not looking forward to finding out. He was not someone they wanted to startle.

It wasn't till 20 minutes later that Eliot showed up. Sleep was written on his face. His eyes slightly closed as he blinked slowly. His movements sluggish as he sat down grabbing the coffee that Nate had put their previously, now cold. He sat there staring at the wall across from him blankly.

Hardison froze and tried to scoot away from Eliot wanting the other to wake up at his own pace but accidently bumped his arm.

Things moved at lightning speed. By the time things stopped Eliot had Hardison pinned to the counter. His arm straight and bent at the elbow in the wrong direction. Eliot's hand making sure Hardison didn't move as he had placed his knee into the back of Hardison's knees making him fall forwards.

Parker tired to move to stop Eliot but Sofie grabbed her back. They knew what Eliot could do and they knew he held himself back a lot of the time. They didn't need Parker going in and trying to free Hardison from the pinning if it put her in danger as well.

"Sofie. Get everyone out. We are closed." Nate hissed quietly. She nodded and left Parker to move the startled customers out. All meals comped and some where freaked out by how quickly Eliot had taken Hardison down. Some regulars were worried about Hardison and other wondered why Eliot had turned so quickly on to his friend.

Some of the guys who come to drink with Eliot at night where shocked to see their drinking buddy take down someone so fast. New customers where wanting to call the police but Sofie took care of it. Making sure everyone got out without the police being involved.

"Eliot." Nate said quietly as he moved slowly to face Eliot and where Hardison was gasping in pain as his arm was held at the wrong joints.

"Nate." Hardison painted.

"I know." Nate replied. They both saw the animalistic rage in Eliot's eyes. They felt how tense Eliot was and how his jaw was clenched. His hair fell on his face creating a curtain to protect Sophie and Parker from seeing it. "Eliot. Listen to me."

Eliot growled and almost bared his teeth at Nate. He was like a ravage animal as he met Nate's eyes.

"Eliot its Nate. Let go of Hardison." Nate said trying to remove the fear of his team hurting each other from his voice. And Eliot could do a lot of damage to Hardison in the position that they were in. Not just physically either. Mentally as well.

"Eliot." Parker spoke up when Eliot made no reaction to Nate. His head tilted a bit towards her almost like he was perking his ears a bit. He didn't look from Hardison though. He grip never wavered. Not weakening, nor applying more force.

"We don't hurt them do we? We protect them." She said moving into Eliot's eyesight.

"Parker?" Nate asked not sure what she had said was right or something that she had rights to say. She held up a hand but didn't look at him.

"We protect them, because we do things that they can't. We make choices they can't. And you are making a choice even we can make." She said looking straight into his eyes.

The other three held their breaths praying Parker was saying the right things to Eliot. The man who could take down a country with a properly placed punch. The man who had no quorum with killing another man. The man who didn't like guns because he was terrifying enough without them.

Eliot slowly looked to Parker who nodded. "We don't hurt them. The one rule we have is not to hurt them." She whispered.

Eliot's face changed from the raging animal of a trained killer to a more familiar one. He gently moved his own leg from Hardison before generally putting Harrisons arm back to its normal spot. He took a step back looking at his hands before looking at them.

Fear filled him and they tried to stop him before he ran from the building.

"What was that!?" Sofie demand. "He can't just go off like that!"

"What was that about Parker?" Nate asked.

"We have a pack. We aren't like you three. We, Eliot and I, can do things. That would kill you guys. And I was just remind him of that." Parker said as she checked over Hardison. She concluded that he would bruise heavily but would be fine. After all if Eliot wanted him to be hurt he would in fact be hurt.

"But why did he turn like that?" Sofie asked. It wasn't like Eliot to turn on them like that. Even when Parker poked him or Hardison made bad jokes about all his geeky things and computer talk.

"He was half asleep still." Nate replied. He remembered the look Eliot had as he had slowly moved about the room to sit and picking up the coffee. "I think Eliot was just started led. We all know he's been in a lot of wars. In a lot of places where that was an acceptable response to walking him up. And with his training we are lucky he didn't hurt Hardison more or even other people."

It was three weeks before they saw Eliot again. And when he came back he hung his head not looking anyone in the eyes. Hardison flinched when Elliot approached him and hurt crossed the hitters face but he nodded and walked away.

He stated making lunch like nothing had happened but they all knew that something had. Eliot had turned on them. And now they where flinching from him.

"Go talk to him." Sofie nudged Hardison. Who shook his head.

"No way man. I startled him once. I refuse to do it again." Hardison said shaking his head.

That's when the sound of pulleys and rope was heard and Parker dropped down on Eliot. Hardison moved quick to try and protect her but Sofie held him back.

She dropped next to Elliot who was currently cutting up items for a salad and his famous BLT sandwich.

"Whatcha doing?" She asked hanging next to him as his knife flew across the cutting board.

"Making lunch." He replied quietly.

"What have ya been up to?" She asked curiously. The other watched as he kept half his focus on the meal prep and half on the conversation.

"Control mostly. You?" He asked still not looking at her.

"This and that. When to the grand canyon." She said shrugging.

"Base jumping or budgies?" He asked calmly.

"Base. Hardison didn't like the looks of the ropes." She said and Eliot stopped cutting for a moment.

"I can only imagine." He said resuming his prep work.

"What where you controlling?" Parker asked. Eliot tensed again and then shook his head. He looked to Parker and then his eyes roamed to where Nate, Sofie, and Hardison stood stiffly in the doorway.

"Why don't you go see what the briefing is?" Eliot suggested nodding to the others. Parker eyed them and then Eliot before shrugging and stepping on the ground.

"Ok. But your going to tell me what you were controlling when it's over alright?" She said and he gave a small nod before setting up the food.

She walked over to Hardison who glared at her. "What?"

"He could have hurt you!" Hardison hissed angrily quietly enough that Eliot couldn't hear in the other room.

"He wouldn't do that. Eliot wouldn't hurt us on purpose." Parker said sitting down. Hardison glared at her for a moment before Nate walked up.

"Run it." he said. Hardison was having issues trusting Eliot so when he passed out food Eliot gave Hardisons to Parker and then stood in the back.

It took them all a few moments to realize Eliot was gone once again.

Four.

Eliot had been out for 3 months. He had sent messages letting them know that he was alright but made no motion to come back. Parker tired to get Hardison to call him back because Nate wouldnt and Sofie said Hardison was the only one to get Eliot back at this point but he refused.

Clearly the trust Hardison and Eliot had was now broken. And Parker didn't know how to fix it. Till Eliot came back on his own.

"See we don't need Eliot. We were fine on our own." Hardison huffed as he held an ice pack to his elbow.

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that." Sofie said and Parker glared at him. They had been started since Hardison had refused to call Eliot 4 weeks ago and every time Parker asked since then.

They walked into the back room and found Eliot cooking. But his movements were sluggish and not as fluid as they normally where when he was cooking. His eyes were droopy and the coffee container was empty. Several mugs laid out on the counter where empty and another half full only to have Eliot reach out and drink the rest.

Not noticing they had entered he filled another mug up not bothering to clean the previous one. His shoulders were sagging and his normally well kept hair was a messy bun of oily strands. His normally clean clothes messed up and stained. Some with blood others with food. His normal farmers tan was gone leaving his skin ashy and pale. He looked like a mess and he was skipping things as he went along in the kitchen.

Parker was at his side in seconds.

"Eliot!" She cried wrapping her arms around his neck. And for the first time Eliot fell under the weight that Parker throw at him. With a sudden cry of pain they rushed over to see Eliot on his back his face locked in pain.

Parker was looking down worried at her friend only to be pulled off by Hardison. They expected the once mighty hitter to pull himself up easily scowl at Parker and serve her cereal without trouble, however he rolled onto his side gripping his side.

He went to his knees only to have his left hand give out and almost have him face plant into the ground.

This time Nate was at his side helping him up. Only then did they notice the deep purple yellow and green bruising on his wrist.

"What happened!?" Nate demand as he forced Eliot into a chair.

"Just a bar fight." Eliot said shrugging it off but when he tried to get to his feet he fell back into the chair again.

"Bar fight my ass. What happened?" Nate demand.

"Haven't slept in a few days. Got reckless. Had nowhere safe to crash." Eliot said shrugging.

"What happened to your place?" Sofie asked worried.

"To familiar. Thought I would hurt someone again." Eliot looked quickly to Hardison before he looked to the floor again.

"I told you to call him!" Parker said jabbing her finger into Hardison's chest.

"Parker. Its fine. My fault any way. I shouldn't have come down till I was fully awake. He is in the right for not trusting me." Eliot said. He yawned and leaned in the chair before shaking his head and standing up on wobbly legs.

"How many days is a few days?" Sofie asked worried as she went to his side to steady him.

"5 or 6 don't really know lost count after 4." Eliot said and this time Hardison moved on the hitter grabbing his arm and dragging him to the spare bed room down the hall.

"You idiot! You can die without enough sleep!" Hardison shouted at him angrily. "Your organs could shut down and your hair will fall out and your brain will stop functioning properly."

"Didn't want to hurt anyone." Eliot said as he was shoved into the bed. He tried to get up but without the proper strength he was pushed back down.

"Idiot! Your hurting yourself!" Hardison shouted angrily.

"But your scared of me." Eliot said looking away.

"I am scared of you all the time man! You kill people! Like seriously thats scary! I have seen you do what you do for years and I wasn't necessarily fine with it but I knew it was necessary. However seeing you with so much anger in your eyes and so much rage built up freaked me out even more. So get some sleep you big dummy. And this time I won't accidentally tap you till you have a cup of coffee first alright?" Haridson asked glaring down at the other.

"You forgive me?" Eliot asked quietly.

"Yes! Now sleep! Parker has been worried sick about you. So sleep." Hardison left after that. Shutting the door and turning off the light he stood there watching the night vision monitors for a moment before he was satisfied that Eliot was actually asleep.

"You forgive him?" Parker asked quietly. Hardison hesitated before nodding.

"I do." He said.

From then on when Eliot slept they left him alone. Parker was often found sleeping in the same room curled in a chair next to where Eliot was on the bed or couch or the ground. Hardison eventually was also found splayed out on the ground fast asleep between the two.

Eliot never said anything about it but it helped the night mares he had of the people he has had to kill.

It helped Parker feel safe around people who loved and cared about her.

And Hardison, well he just wanted to sleep with his best friend and best girl.


End file.
